Two years ago DARPA announced the Longshot project which is a drone that can carry weapons. The Longshot will be carried by the aircraft carrier before being launched into the battlefield. It then launched its own weapon to fulfill the mission. This week General Atomics who won the contract to build the Longshot announced they are now ready to begin testing.
If all goes well, the Longshot's first flight will be in 2024. Unlike the Predator or Loyal Wingman drones, the Longshot will first be carried by Gen-4 fighter aircraft such as the F-16, F-15 and FA-18. Because it is old enough to fight Gen-6 fighters like the Su-57 and J-20, the Longshot can be sent to the battlefield to engage the enemy before firing missiles like the AMRAAM at the enemy.
With this Gen-4 aircraft still have functionality on the modern battlefield without posing a risk to human pilots. The LongShot project is seen as an evolution of the Gremlins program announced in 2015. Gremlins are a swarm of drones that can be launched from cargo planes that are then used for airspace surveillance only because they are not equipped with weapons.
Longshot will certainly be among the systems used in the Replicator Program announced last month. The United States wants to use thousands of drones on the battlefield to match the capabilities of the enemy in China, which has more fighter planes than them.